People living in border areas of J&K yearn for better civic infrastructure and employment opportunities

By: Shiekh Jamsheed

Twitter: @the_news_21

Srinagar: People living in the border areas or in adjoining areas face plenty of obstacles in their daily survival. Severe abrupt threats put their whole life in despair. Exceptional accidents can cause death or serious injury. Terror activities have also led to destruction of homes and property. The people living around border areas often face barbarity and bloodthirstiness to an extremely large extent especially from Pakistan through different ways.

Furthermore, they also face numerous difficulties due to inaccessibility of basic infrastructure facilities. Due to these shortcomings the people living in such distant areas have to face numerous hurdles in their daily-to-daily life. Some of such deprivations are mentioned below:

Poor road connectivity and absence of basic amenities in the region: The Poor Infrastructure of road connectivity creates a lot of hurdles for people living in the region. The inadequate infrastructure of healthcare facilities, the shortage of drinking water, the scarcity of electricity, the insufficiency of funds for the development and prosperity of the region lead to hardship and deprivation of people. The lack of Anganwadi centres, SSA schools, government run primary schools and many more destitutions leads to discomfort of the people in the region. 

Poor economic conditions in the border areas: The border regions have their own problems. Such areas are vulnerable to abrupt threats. Making the provision of accessible, basic amenities becomes more difficult and expensive. In such areas people are more vulnerable to illegal infiltration, which puts pressure on their economies to a large extent.

Additionally, there are attempts at infiltration of insurgents and criminals, including drug traffickers coming mainly from across the border. Pakistan has been trying to harm peace in the region for the past many decades with their blasphemous strategies, firstly tried to sow ‘seed of terror’ in Kashmir but thanks to our brave soldiers their attempts have been thwarted.

Pakistan’s irrelevant acts of addressing various impurities in our nation through border areas including human trafficking, drug peddling, illegal infiltration, terrorist’s trafficking to harm its peace and stability has been a serious threat from a prolonged phase. Thus, with state governments international borders have to carry a heavy burden not only to provide basic amenities. People living in such areas but also for the broader national goal of securing the border.

Underdevelopment and scarcity of resources and employment opportunities in the region: The remoteness, difficult terrain, infrastructural bottlenecks and unfriendly neighbours are the serious impediments of the development of the border region. Being a border area, the region is suffering from specific problems like illegal cross-border infiltration, law and order, security, insurgency, smuggling etc. In this age of modernization these tribal people have to suffer a lot due to lack of employment opportunities in the region.

The Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir shares its border with Pakistan as an International Border (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC). Pakistan’s constant acts of terror have been a source of constant concern since 1947. Because of Pakistan’s irrelevant terror attacks, disruptive economic activities, disrupting farming activities, livelihood and education in border areas, etc all have faced devastating consequences to a large extent.

Health and allied delivery systems in distant border villages: Healthcare is the most important dimension to assess the health quality of people in the region. In the border area the people living around the adjoining areas face numerous troubles in health-related facilities, they are not aware about how to get protection from various diseases. Moreover, the lack of infrastructure in the region, mainly the lack of health care facilities, leads to hardship for the people in the entire region.

However, Pakistan has been in a rush to disturb the peace and destabilize our nation and are targeting the border areas heinously and inhumanely, which has left the people in desperate and anguish, we need to ensure some improvements for the security, betterment, stability, prosperity, tranquillity and integrity for the people living around border areas.

Strong border infrastructure and bolder strategic policy: The improvements should be made in Border Roads Organizations (BRO), it must be able to provide the basic infrastructure, including better road connectivity, accessibility in drinking water, availability of internet facilities, availability of PHC’s in the region, availability of primary education in the distant region.

India’s primary threat is from its so-called neighbour Pakistan; hence a strong bold border strategy will keep the enemies away. Apart from abrupt troop movements, it would also help in curbing various illegal activities mainly from Pakistan including smuggling, drug-peddling, terrorist infiltration, and illegal immigrants etc. Therefore, it is of utmost necessity to develop this aspect of infrastructure to avoid any possible threats in the region.

Transport and Communication: The development of transport and communication in the border areas is the biggest challenge. Those residing in border areas face numerous difficulties due to the lack of transport and communication. These areas are completely deprived of such basic amenities. There is no service available to them. In this age of science and technology, they are restricted to the old age scenarios.

People have to walk miles away on their own due to lack of transportation facilities, the lack of communication infrastructure makes them suffer to an extremely large extent. Hence, development in these two fronts must be enforced and enhanced to remove the sufferings of the border dwellers.

Development of employment opportunities in these distant regions: When we talk about the employment opportunities in the distant border areas, the first thing which comes to our mind is border tourism. Border tourism must be developed so to accelerate employment opportunities in the region, it eventually will uplift the youth as it will bring an opportunity to them to avail their source of income and to accomplish their goal of survival. Developmental strides must be taken to ensure the prosperity and stability in the region.

Efficiency in the healthcare system in these remote border regions: Understanding the movement patterns of immigrants, migrants, refugees and travellers is essential to preventing the spread of public health threats that originate from across the international borders. The people living in border areas often face numerous hurdles in healthcare. Steps must be taken to ensure better healthcare facilities in the region.

Availability of Primary Health Centres (PHCs) infrastructure is a must in these border regions. Development on this front is the need of the hour, health related issues around border areas are quite high. Hence, steps must be ensured for the development and stability in this front so that border dwellers will not face any difficulty.

For people in the farthest and remotest corner of the Union Territory, road connectivity is important because they can avail the benefits of development only if they can access them. Often the absence of roads forces a child to drop out from school. A patient may not seek or avail treatment in hospitals in the city due to lack of road connectivity between the villages and the city.

Due to the lack of infrastructural facilities in the region, people face numerous hurdles in their survival. In this age of development, they lack road connectivity and healthcare facilities, lack a better education system and shortage of electricity and drinking water. People living in the border areas face numerous hurdles in their survival. Hence, steps must be ensured for the development, prosperity and tranquillity of the region.

The author Sheikh Jamsheed can be contacted on Email – sheikhjamsheed751@gmail.com